Electrical switch-lock for railways.



No. 852,629. PATENTBD MAY '7, 1907.

H. G. SEDGWICK. ELECTRICAL SWITCH LOCK FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATIOK'FILED NOV. 94. 1905.

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No. 852,629. PATENTBD MAY 7, 1907.

H. G. SEDGWIOK. ELECTRICAL SWITCH LOOK FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24,- 1905.

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No. 852,629. PATBNTED MAY 7, 1907.

. H. G. SEDGWICK. ELECTRICAL SWITCH LOCK 'POR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED 80124, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' cent rail of the mainline.

HIRAM G. SEDGWIOK, OF MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.

ELECTRICAL SWITCH-=LOCK FOR RAELWAYS.

Specification of Letters IPatent.

Patented May '7, 1907.

Application filed November 24,1905. Serial No. 288,917.

To aZZ whmn it may concern;

Be it known that I, I-IIRAM G. SEDGWIOK, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Mill Valley, county of Marin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Switch-Locks for Railways, of which the following is a full and clear specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a roadbed showing the manner of applying my apparatus to a switch of the ordinary construction; Fig. 2 a diagram of the brushes and circuits on the locomotive; Fig. 3 a diagram of the circuits and motor on the roadbed; Figs. 4 and 5 detail sectional views showing the mechanism for locking the switch-tongue or mov able rail away from the main rail, thereby preventing the switch being opened.

The object of this invention is to avoid derailment at switches by providing means whereby a train approaching the switch on the main line shall automatically lock the switch closed and automatically release the switch when the train reaches or passes the switch, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings by referencecharacters, a designates a shaft journaled in suitable bearings mounted on the roadbed and extending transversely of the roadbed,

beneath the point of the switch-tongue. This shaft is provided with a radial lockingarm I) which normally lies below the rails, and which is adapted by the rocking of the shaft a to be brought to a vertical position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, between the point of the switch-tongue of the adja- Thus introducing this locking-arm between the switch rail and the main rail prevents the switch rail from being swung over to the main rail to open the switch. Preferably this arm is beveled on the side adjacent to the switch rail in order that this beveled edge will act in the manner of a cam to force the switch rail away from the main rail in case it is adjacent to the main rail when the lock-arm is turned upward. It will be observed therefore that to lock the switch rail away from the main rail the shaft a must be turned a quarter revolution in one direction and to unlock said switch rail and leave it free to be adjusted by the usual shiftingiimechanismfi it is necessary to rock the shaft in the reversedirection a quarter turn or far enough to bring the lock-arm in a plane below the flanges of thewheels.

To rock the shaft I attach to it aworm-gear c, which is engaged by a worm d on the shaft 6 of an electric motor, which motor may be suitably housed in a casing adjacent to the track. To actuate this motor I aflix to the roadbed two pairs of contacts f and g, adjacent to the rails, the pair 9 being located a considerable distance ahead of the switch and the pair f being located adjacent to the switch. These contacts are suitably insulated and are adapted to be metallically connected in succession by a train approaching the switch. Any suitable mechanism may be mounted on the locomotive to thus bridge these contacts. I prefer employing a pair of separated brushes at each side of the locomotive in such position that they will simultaneously make contact with the roadbed-contacts as the locomotive passes over the same. I have shown this arrangement of brushes in diagram in Fig. 2. The brushes at one side are designated h and those at the other side 7L and each pair is connected by suitable conductors to pairs of insulated contacts 7L2 and h which are adapted to be bridged by a metallic bridge-piece '11 carried insulatedly on a disk 7' which is adapted to be rotated by a depending arm 76 which is con nected to the usual reach-rod Z of the locomotive reversing-lever. It will be observed that by shifting the arm 76 back and forth the bridge '5 will be shifted from one pair of 0011- tacts to the other, so that either pair of brushes may be cut out. When the locomotive is moving forward the right-hand brushes will be connected together and when it is moving backward the other pair of brushes will be connected together, this reversing of the circuit being necessary on single-track roads, in order that the locomotive shall bridge the roadbed-contacts whether it be going ahead or backing. By attaching the switch-armk to the reversinglever of the locomotive, it is obvious that the reversing of the circuits will be done automatically when the engine is reversed. Any other suitable reversing-mechanism may be employed.

Conductors m connect the distant or setting-contacts with a battery n and one of the electro-magnets 0 of a double switch p, so

that when the contacts 9 are metallically connected by the passing locomotive the magnet 0 will be energized and the switch 1) caused to close one branch q of a local circuit 1", which circuit includes a suitable battery 8. The release or restore-contactsf are connected by wires 25 to another battery it and the other magnet o of the double switch so that when these restore-contacts are bridged by the locomotive the switch will be thrown to the other side and thereby open the branch q and close the other branch w, thereby switching the battery 8 into this latter branch. Another double switch LC is connected up to the branch circuits (1 and w and the brushes of the motor c in such manner that when one of the branches is in circuit with battery 8 the motor will run in one direction and will be reversed when the other branch of the circuit is switched into circuit with the battery 3. As shown, wires 9 are in circuit with one of the magnets y of the switch :10 and the wires to are in circuit with the other magnet z of this switch. The double arm of the switch cc carries at each end a pair of insulated contact-plates a which alternately make contact with plugs b and contacts 0. One pair of contacts 0 are connected by wires (1 with the respective brushes-of the motor while the other pair of contacts 6 is also connected by independent circuit wires 6 to the respective brushes of the motor. In each of the circuits d and c is inserted a circuit-breaker f adapted to be alternately opened and closed by pins 9 carried by the worm-gear 0, these pins g being so disposed on the gear that one of these circuit-closers will always be closed and the other will always be open. It will be understood that when the switch as is shifted to re verse the current through the motor, the cur rent is reversed through the armature only, the direction of current through the field re maining constant.

By the arrangement above described it will be observed that when battery 8 is thrown into one of the branches to or q the motor will be rotated in one direction and when thrown into the other branch the motor will be rotated in the opposite direction and that when the motor has turned the shaft a carrying the locking arm 0 a quarter revolution one of the pins 9 will break the circuit that happens to be in action and thus stop the motor. With an arnngement of this character it will be observed that a passing locomotive will first bridge the contacts 9 and start the motor and thereby raise the locking-arm 1) into position, thus locking the switch closed; then when the train has reached a predetermined point, which may be a short distance ahead of the switch or behind it, the other contacts will be bridged and the motor will be reversed, thus turning down the locking arm out of the way and leaving the switch free to be closed or opened. In this way it will be impossible for a train approaching a switch to run into an open switch. Of course if the approaching train is to be switched off the main track, the engineer will be compelled to stop his train (after he passes the restore-contacts) a suflicient length of time to permit the motor to turn down the locking-arm and free the switch rail and permit an attendant to open the switch.

It will be observed that my invention is not confined to the specific apparatus shown and described as the mechanism may be varied greatly without de arting from the spirit of the invention. I" it be desired to do away with the reversing-switch w I may employtwo motors, one to rotate the lockingshaft in one direction and the other to rotate it in the other direction. It is obvious also that the batteries n and u may be replaced by a single battery and this battery may be located on the locomotive if desired. As a further modification I might do away with the restore contacts f and depress the lockarm I) by the flange of one of the front wheels of the locomotive, in which case the lockarm might have, instead of a rigid connection with the shaft (1, a frictional or a ratchet-andpawl engagement therewith to permit it to be 9 forced downward without rotating the shaft a. I may possibly also dispense entirely with the lock-arm interposed between the switch rail and the main rail and lock the switch closed by means which will automatically engage the usual manually-controlled switch-lever, locking this lever against movement; in this case it would probably be advisable to inoase the automatic locking-device in such manner that it would be inaccessible to evil-disposed persons and making it impossible of operation except through the medium of the roadbed-contacts.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a railway-switch, a device independent of the point throwing devices for locking the switch closed, train-operated means on the roadbed ahead of the switch to bring said locking-device to locking position, and train-operated means also located a distance ahead of the switch for restoring said locking device to unlock position.

2. Incombination with a railway switch, of locking means therefor in normally unlocked position and independent of the point throwing devices, and means on the roadbed ahead of the switch for first locking and then unlocking said locking means by a locomotive approaching the switch.

3. In combination with a railway switch, a rock shaft journaled below the point of the switch and provided with an arm which when the shaft is rotated will be first raised to a position between the point and the adjacent rail and then lowered out of the way, electric motor devices for intermittently rotating this shaft, electric devices on the roadbed ahead of the switch for actuating the motor to raise the arm, and additional devices on the roadbed at a distance from the above devices for actuating the motor to lower the arm, for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination with a railway-switch, a normally unlocked locking device adapted to be interposed between the switch rail and the main rail, and roadbed devices for actuating said locking device by an approaching train.

5. In combination with a railway-switch, of a device on the roadbed under the rails and normally in its lowered unlocking position and adapted to be raised to a position between the switch rail and the adjacent main rail, roadbed devices adapted to be actuated by an approaching locomotive and connected to the locking device to raise the same and lock the switch closed, and to lower the locking device and leave the switch-rail normally free.

6. In combination with a railway-switch, of a normally unlocked locking device independent of the point throwing devices and mounted on the roadbed beneath the switch rail, said device being beveled so as to act as a cam, and locomotive-actuated devices on the roadbed ahead of the switch for raising said locking device.

7. In combination with a railway-switch, of a device for locking the same closed, and a series of contacts on the roadbed ahead of the switch and electrical connections whereby an approaching locomotive will first lock the switch closed and then restore the parts to an unlocked position. r

8. In combination with a railway-switch, of electrically-actuated locking means therefor, two pairs of roadbed-contacts one pair being located near the switch and the other pair at a distance ahead of the same, electrical connections between these roadbedcontacts and the locking devices, and means whereby an approaching locomotive will suecessively bridge said contacts.

9. In combination with a railway-switch, the combination of electricallyoperated locking devices, a pair of separated contacts a distance ahead of the switch, connections between these contacts and the locking devices, and means carried by a locomotive for bridging the contacts and thus actuating the locking devices.

10. In combination with a railway-switch, a rock-shaft ournaled under the switch and provided with a locking-arm adapted to be raised to a locking position and lowered to an unlocking position, electric motor devices for rocking said shaft first one way and then the other, and roadbed devices ahead of the switch whereby an approaching train will first raise the locking-arm and then lower it out of the way.

In testimony whereof I hereunto alliX my signature in the presence of two witnesses this 2d day of November, 1905,

I-IIRAM G SEDGWVICK.

Witnesses:

S. H. ROBERTS, W. M. TI-IAOKER. 

